Honoring MLK’s legacy, AWP, & other upcoming events

While the weather outside may be frightful, plenty of writers — including this one — are giving readings through the winter months inside warm cafes, libraries, bookstores, and bars. Come in out of the cold and find me at these upcoming events:

Friday, March 2: I’m one of five readers at a poetry reading inspired by the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination. Dr. King’s celebrated role in the nonviolent movement for justice and equality, and the impact of his assassination on our city and the lives of many, bring us together in reflection and storytelling in his honor.

The event is held by the DC Poet Project at Intersections and is presented by Day Eight. The readers include: Alan King, Gregory Luce, Joseph Ross, Naomi Thiers, and me. It’s $15 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center Lab 2 Theater, at 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 8: It’s AWP time, and I’m flying south for (part of) the winter! I’m a panelist on “#CripLit: Writing our Truths” with Suzanne Bair, Jill Khoury, Minadora Macheret, and Nicole Oquendo. Minadora will moderate a conversation about crip/disabled literature, and what it means to write your truth.

Disabled writers and writers with chronic illness will explore crip lit and how vital it is in a time when the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid/Medicare, and disability rights are threatened. Our session is located in the Tampa Convention Center, Room 22, at 1:30 p.m. If you can’t get to the AWP conference, follow along on social media with the hashtags #AWP18 and #criplit.

April 19-21: Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness is coming up this spring. It’s Washington, D.C.’s premiere poetry event, highlighting poetry at the intersection of the imagination and social change. My panel, “Fantasy as Reality: Activism and Catharsis through Speculative Writing,” will be held during the festival. Christina M. Rau will moderate. Panelists include: Rita Banerjee, Alex DiFrancesco, and me. Exact date, location, and time TBA soon.

Speculative writing gives voice to bodies and individuals who are disabled, alien, marginalized. Women, non-binary, and activist writers of speculative fiction are subverting the stereotype that science fiction is written by and about cis white males. We’re diversifying and owning the fantastical worlds we imagine.

​The literary world is just revving up in the spring, so don’t fret. There will be plenty more happening this summer, like OutWrite 2018, August 3-5! If you’d like to be involved with the LGBTQ+ literature festival in D.C., then submit a panel or reading proposal here.

In the lead up to the festival, I’m moderating “Our Queer Mother Earth: Readings on Ecojustice & Climate Change” on June 9. The full lineup of readers and location TBA soon.